Suggestions/UndecidedDecember2005

This page is for suggestions that have 50% or more Keep votes vs Total Votes, but not more than 66% Keep votes, which would qualify them for Peer Reviewed page. These are good, but not quite good enough Suggestions that could (and probably should) be reworked, refined, and resubmitted by a willing, knowledgeable party. Before doing so, please perform the proper research; reading the votes and the associated Talk pages, and adjust your new submission. State on the submission that you are not duplicating, but have revised and are resubmitting for approval.

This is not the place to put new Suggestions. The Suggestions Page is the queue for new Suggestions to be voted on and suggested. Any Suggestions that have not been voted on will be removed from this page.

Notes for Editors

Those who are placing Suggestions on this page should do so under the following procedure:

1. Take the entire template and paste it into this section.
2. Remove the entire suggest_votes field.
3. Add the field suggest_moved, and then timestamp it with ~~~~~.
4. replace "suggestion" with "psuggestions".
5. Please note under the suggestion, briefly, what the controversy was about. It would be good for people to know when revising suggestions and deciding whether to submit a new version of one of these. Because these are necessarily subjective, please sign these sections.

So, the new template should look like:

===Suggestion Name===
 {{psuggestion|
suggest_time=Old Timestamp|
suggest_type=Original type|
suggest_scope=Original scope|
suggest_description=Original description|
suggest_moved=~~~~~ |
suggest_notes=Notes about the discussion about the skill. |
}}

December 6, 2005

Graffiti Artistry

Timestamp:	20:27, 6 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Type:	Skill
Scope:	Survivors
Description:	Same name. Different skill. Different author. Please read before Spaminating. (I honestly don't know what else one could name an advanced graffiti skill.) This skill would be below Tagging of course. A player with this skill will see a drop-down box next to the regular message box for spraypainting messages. In this drop-down would be a list of images such as "Skull, Dragon, Demon," and other such things commonly depicted in urban areas that fit the dark nature of the game. When a user with this skill selects one of these from the drop-down the message they type into the message box will be accompanied by a small ASCII image above it of the item they selected. Small enough to not be annoying or take up too much space. When you choose to paint an item with your message, you will use 2x the paint. Perhaps there would be a chance of failing to correctly paint the image, like "You try to spray-paint the Skull with your message, but it just isn't coming together." so all that would end up being painted is your message, even though you spent twice the paint. What is the up side of this? Well, not only does it add flavor and a bit of badassery (yes, badassery) to the look and feel of "Malton", but it could also give you the same XP boost for a successfully completed image that the Tagging skill gives you for tagging certain special places. This XP bonus could be stacked or not. Either way.
Notes:	8/13 Keep/Kill
Left Queue:	03:36, 14 Jan 2006 (GMT)

Binoculars (from TALL buildings.)

Timestamp:	02:11, 15 Jan 2006 (GMT)
Type:	Item
Scope:	Survivors
Description:	Found in Mall Sporting Goods stores and possibly Forts. (Thanks, FireballX301!) When you use Binoculars, you will see a set of 9 blocks in any direction. This view will replace your Map View until you do any other action. USABLE ONLY FROM TALL BUILDINGS, AKA BUILDINGS WITH A WINDOW TO JUMP FROM. You can only see the outsides of buildings, and binoculars cannot be used indoors UNLESS IT IS A BUILDING WITH A WINDOW TO JUMP FROM. Using Binoculars costs 1 AP. You will be able to see surrounding blocks as you would if you were standing there, which means you can see how many Zombies are standing there, and which humans, as you would normally with your map view. You can still be attacked if looking at a different block. It's not a Teleporter, so you are still at your current location, looking at a different area. Confusing Example: NW N NE W X E SW S SE Your PRESENT LOCATION is marked X in the RED CENTER SQUARE. Looking NORTH WEST will show you the 9 blocks containing NW. Looking NORTH will show you the 9 blocks containing N. Looking NORTH EAST will show you the 9 blocks containing NE. Looking EAST will show you the 9 blocks containing E. Looking SOUTH EAST will show you the 9 blocks containing SE. Looking SOUTH will show you the 9 blocks containing S. Looking SOUTH WEST will show you the 9 blocks containing SW. Looking WEST will show you the 9 blocks containing W. EACH SQUARE IS ONLY ONE CITY BLOCK, EVEN THE RED ONE. ONE BLOCK. These locations "North West, West, etc." will be located in a selectable drop-down next to the "Binoculars" button in your inventory. As you can see from this example, you are NOT being allowed to view some crazily far-off area. It's a relatively close proximity. The value of this item above "Just walk there! LOL!" is that you can actively SCOUT locations in 8 directions, then walk a bit, then SCOUT AGAIN. Repeat as necissary. It is also helpful for those keeping a safe house. I think this has the right mix of Technical and Flavorful elements. Here is an example of what you would see if you looked NORTH WEST: NW N NE W X E SW S SE You would see the blocks in PURPLE, which represent ONE BUILDING/STREET each. Notes: You go back to your normal map view when you do ANY action, or click a block on the Binocular view. You will not move if you click a Binocular View block, however. In Urban Dead one block is only one builing or street, etc. These blocks are NOT groupings of buildings that totally obscure your view. If you can see all zombies surrounding a building in your current map view, you can see all zombies surrouding buildings in a Binocular view. This is a game and as such stretches have already been made in the current running version of the project. This does not let you see a whole Suburb for 1 AP. You can only look in ONE direction per AP, and you will only see ONE block of 3x3 "City Blocks", which means a 3x3 block of buildings. This suggestion is no more of a stretch than the fact that you can see all zombies to the side and behind of a building you are on the same block as -- as well as all the zombies behind and on the sides of the 8 buildings that currently surround you in the actual game as it works now. This item reducs a 2 AP (or 4 AP if you count a walk back) series of actions to a 1 AP action. It is in no way overpowered in the least. Even less over-powered with the "From Tall Buildings Only" addition. (Thanks to Firemanstan and anyone I might've missed who said it.) The FIRST choice in the Binocular drop-down could be either blank or contain the word "No Direction" so that you can, at any time, select and look in "No Direction" for 0 AP as a fail-safe to stop using the Binoculars. (Thanks to Jack-Swithun.) Further thoughts which are NOT part of this suggestion: This would be an excellent additional item to give Scouts when they start off. If there IS ever any addition to the game that lets you look out of windows or climb onto the roof of a building, this item could become much more useful. I agree that there could be a skill involved in seeing more space with Binoculars. (Reducing normal use to 2x2 and having a skill for 3x3) Very good concept! The only problem is the fact that directions no longer break down into easy squares of block.
Notes:	19/23 Keep/Total Voters mentioned the possibility of having a skill to augment distance or lessening "normal" distance until you get a skill. Voters expressed dissent about removing any of the 'fear of the unknown.'
Left Queue:	02:16, 6 Feb 2006 (GMT)

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December 8, 2005

Self-Aware

Timestamp:	04:15, 8 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Type:	Skill
Scope:	Zombies
Description:	The zombie is sentient and aware that they are an individual (think Bub the zombie in Day of the Dead), and thus more concious of the other zombies around them. This skill would allow zombies to see the player names of other zombies in the same square as them and would use Memories of Life as a prerequisite. To prevent massive spam they would access the list of zombie player names by opening up a new window by clicking on a link. This would not let them attack specific zombies out of a crowd or any nonsense like that, this is mainly just to satisfy the player's curiosity. This way players will be able to think "Gee, BatNinja59, FredBill and I sure did a good job of tearing down that safehouse and eating everyone inside" as opposed to "Well I sure triumphed with the help of some complete strangers that I can never build up a sense of community and gameplay with. I sure feel glad they weren't NPCs, not that I could tell." Perhaps it could also let zombie players know if they were attacked by ZKers and a variety of other uses but this is really just for the "knowing who your allies on the net" are part. Poor zombies, surrounded by allies but all alone.
Notes:	7/14 Keep/Total. This is one of the primary reasons I don't really like playing zeds and this idea takes care of that nicely. Metagaming is a necessary evil for zombies. If we can cut down the need for that, we should. I want to know who kills my zombie alt after it gets revivificated, so I can thank them. Put people on your contact list, you can recognize them as zombies, regardless if you are one or not. Also if zombies attack you click the "a zombie" part of the message that they attacked you and see their profile, which can be used to add to your contact list. Since it is a skill, would it carry over if you bought it and were revived?
Left Queue:	15:39, 23 Dec 2005 (GMT)

Wasting Disease

Timestamp:	07:00, 8 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Type:	Skill
Scope:	Zombies
Description:	In most zombie movies the infection doesn't only affect people's health but also their mental condition. They gradually get more insane until the point they become a zombie. Right now our infections only affect health. Here's my idea: Prerequisite is Infectious Bite. If a zombie with Wasting Disease lands an attack of any type on a suvivor that is already Infected they become Diseased in addition to that. A diseased suvivor loses 1 XP with every AP they spend until they are cured with a First-Aid Kit. If killed a diseased character is not affected by the condition while a zombie. Reasoning: I made it require a second attack to not be crowded by infectious bite, and made it an attack of any sort as to not to overpower bite over hand attacks. That first bite already rewards zombies with spreading the infection. Further wounds exacerbate it. I don't think this will unbalance the game. Most suvivors that become diseased will be able to heal themselves rather quickly keeping the xp drain rather low. It isn't as if the 15 or so xp lost by a suvivor without a kit and not in a hospital will be missed much. What this will do is make live back and forth fights between suvivors and zombies unprofitable xp wise since they'll keep getting rediseased and losing much of the xp they gain. These fights will then become entirely about survival. This will actually give zombies further strategy! Right now when a zombie enters a safehouse they have two options: 1) Try to bite everyone and infect them 2) Attack one person to wound them as much as possible and maybe kill them. This skill will add a third option 3)Bite everyone once, and then attack again to cause them to lose xp in addition to health. It's a judgement call on the part of the zombie whether they want to spend the AP to do that. In response to possible comparisons to headshot: This skill is obviously quite different. It's an XP draining skill for zombies but I think it's much better than the "Suvivors lose 10 xp per level when killed" suggestions I've seen. This skill would likely never harm an individual suvivor much, but since an entire safehouse could be diseased by a single zombie the total XP lost by everyone combined could be greater than that lost to headshot. It is a useful skill. The fact that one zombie might be able to drain 100 xp in total from ten people without killing anyone is balanced by the fact that suvivors can gain xp quite easily.
Notes:	11/19 Keep/Total All non-Keep votes were Kill. The majority of Keep votes deemed this a good balance to (the old XP-removing) Headshot. Kill votes were mainly statements that any kind of XP loss is bad, and that two wrongs (this and Headshot) don't make a right.
Left Queue:	15:39, 23 Dec 2005 (GMT)

Not Have Zombies

Timestamp:	1906 Dec. 8 2005 (EST)
Type:	Improvement
Scope:	Zombies
Description:	Why don't we, you know... just do away with zombies? I mean, humans already outnumber zombies approximately 2.5 to 1. Zombies can't get to the humans because barricades are easier and cheaper to put up than they are to tear down. Zombies have difficulty gaining skills such as Neck Lurch or Memories of Life because the number of humans with Headshot alone outnumbers zombies. And any zombie fortunate enough to get all the zombie skills possible has what to look forward to? Running and trying to hide in the shadows of heavily barricaded buildings? Now humans want more skills, like the ability to thwart our Infectious Bite or to make us lose skills temporarily when we're headshot. So, perhaps we zombies should give in. Call it a day. Admit when we've been outflanked by an overpowered and outnumbering opponent. Get rid of the zombies. Just let the humans have their town and be done with it. The end.
Notes:	55/87 Keep/Total = 63%. F*ck that, I'm not taking notes this time. --Squashua 15:39, 23 Dec 2005 (GMT) It was a complaint and should never have been posted, most of the non-keep votes were spam votes.--The General 08:35, 27 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Left Queue:	15:39, 23 Dec 2005 (GMT)

Keep

December 11th, 2005

Black Marker

Timestamp:	05:13, 11 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Type:	Item
Scope:	Survivors and Zombies
Description:	The Black Marker would be found in Schools and Malls (Stationary Stores). When someone posesses the Black Marker, they can draw a pattern on the face of any Survivor or Zombie who is asleep. (IE: Out of AP and in 'sleep' mode.) You can also use this on corpses. When a player posesses the Black Marker, they will see a drop-down next to the marker in their inventory, much like a FAK currently has, with a list of sleeping players and "a zombie" and "a corpse" if a zombie or corpse is in the same area as said player. Once a victim is selected and the player clicks the Black Marker item, they will draw a random pattern on the sleeping or dead victim's face. The message would read something like: "You draw thick kitty whiskers and a black nose onto Bob3231." The victim will also see a message (with name of the "artist", etc. etc.) concerning this in their "Since your last turn" area when they next log in with AP and are out of sleep mode. Black Markers are one-time use. The victim's description will also be amended so that "They have thick black whiskers and a black nose drawn onto their face." would follow their normal description. (Non-stacking, like Grafitti.) This effect is undone once someone edits their Description, which sort of counts as wiping their face off. Some options for random patterns include: Kitty, Clown, Hitler Moustache and hair-part on forehead, Stars and moons, or Black eye and scar.
Notes:	* 19/36 Keep/Total - Did not include one vote of "Humorous" in tally.
Left Queue:	00:05, 16 Jan 2006 (GMT)~~

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December 29th, 2005

Wasted AP on Invalid Actions

Timestamp:	21:03, 29 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Type:	Improvement
Scope:	Players
Description:	I'm probably not doing this right, wiki's are about as intuitive as this game, lol. Anyway, I'v noticed that most, if not all, invalid actions in this game require AP dispite the fact they don't do anything. I'm a new player and have found it frustrating that after 3 days of looking for a gun I wasted AP by clicking on it hoping to load it with ammo. Apparently you have to click on indivual bullets which is fine but not obvious from the begining, I think it's wrong to penalize players that don't know every little nuance of the interface. There are several other situations like this that I don't think you should loose AP on. I havn't been keeping a list because I didn't relize I was going to be frustrated enough to try to use a wiki. I'm not sure what "That's already the case." means, just to clarify I'm proposing that the AP not be used when you make insignificant actions. In case you thought I proposing that the waste was a good idea. If you don't believe that the AP vanished, log on real quick an click on your flak jacket. AP vanishes for me (I just did it to verify). Anyway, I'll quit baby sitting this suggestion now, it seems inapropriate on my part. (Posted by user Bayn)
Notes:	* 11/17 Keep/Total, some Voters felt the need for a list of the actions that are considered invalid
Left Queue:	20:43, 17 Jan 2006 (GMT)

More Cemetary Usefuleness to Zombies

Timestamp:	10:46, 30 Dec 2005 (AEST)
Type:	Improvement
Scope:	Zombies
Description:	Seeing as Survivors seem to have the upper hand in Malton right now, might it be worthwhile to have an alternate way for Zombies to regain Hit Points, without having to have a whole skill to that effect AND have to attack Survivors to do so? This suggestion might have limited effect but it might help the Zombies out a little. I was thinking that Cemetaries could provide Zombies with a limited amount of nutritious brains. There's thousands of dead bodies in your typical cemetary, and some of them may have not rotted completely away. Perhaps a Zombie could enter a cemetary, perform a search (with some suitably low chance of success), find a cadaver that fits the bill and feast for a few hit points? The search might implicitly include the requirement to dig up some graves. (I mean Zombies can smell brains right?) What I mean is, you just click on "Search for Cadavers" or something, and you use one AP for the entire process of searching, digging, eating etc... (Assuming you were successful). It might be an extremely slow way to gain hit points, but at least it wouldn't expose the Zombie to the chance of being wounded, killed or head-shotted. Possibly combined with some other cemetary modifications (like the suggestion from someone else to give Zombies the ability to hide in cemetaries from Survivors who are outside) it might make cemetaries scarier places, as well as congregation points for both the dead and the undead. Difference Engine
Notes:	* 15/19 Keep/Total, majority of opposing votes felt that the combinations with other zombie healing methods would be to much.
Left Queue:	21:07, 17 Jan 2006 (GMT)

Weather

Timestamp:	SCAScot 19:16, 31 Dec 2005 (GMT)
Type:	Event (was Improvement)
Scope:	Survivors & Zombies, Gameplay
Description:	The effect of weather is to limit visibility into adjacent squares on the 3x3 map when outside. In the immediate square that the player is in, everything will be shown as normal (building graphics and presence of survivors/zombies). For the surrounding squares, building names/nav buttons will be shown, but the blocks will be shown as grey squares. The presence of survivors and/or zombies will be hidden. For variety, weather and flavor text can be appropriate to both season and inside/outside, as follows: Spring - Rain or Snow Inside Rain can be heard drumming on the rooftop. / Small drifts of snow force themselves between the cracks in the walls. Outside A steady downpour of rain obscures your vision. / The swirling of blowing snow obscures your vision. Summer - Rain Inside Rain can be heard drumming on the rooftop. Outside A steady downpour of rain obscures your vision. Fall - Rain / Fog Inside Rain can be heard drumming on the rooftop. / The clammy chill of fog seeps into the room. Outside A steady downpour of rain obscures your vision. / Thick fog blankets your vision. Winter - Snow / Fog Inside Small drifts of snow force themselves between the cracks in the walls. / The clammy chill of fog seeps into the room. Outside The swirling of blowing snow obscures your vision. / Thick fog blankets your vision. Flares fired skyward would be rendered useless (or be limited to being visible from a very restricted number of blocks away). A Feeding Groan would not suffer any effects, and Scent Trail would allow a zombie to "see" a survivor on the map (as per normal), even if that survivor is in a map square that would otherwise be obscured by weather (I envision Scent Trail to be some sort of undead ability, not actually related to scent or the sense of smell, hence it's effectiveness in the presence of weather.). The weather for the next 24 hours is determined randomly at IP-hitcount reset (within the confines of seasons, naturally), and affects the entire city. Edit: The chance for any given weather condition other than "clear/normal" is 10% (i.e., most days will be clear/normal).
Notes:	* 12/19 Keep/Total.
Left Queue:	21:37, 17 Jan 2006 (GMT)

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